Great Offer Adventure, CP/Cal/?, 7/22-?, CZR/TLC/Boyd/?, (Semi-Live)

Another great update and I very much appreciate the detailed review of Vanderpump's Cocktail Garden. I've always want to try that place. Being able to use the Seven Stars/Diamond drink vouchers there is is FANTASTIC benefit as I a recall from their menu that the drinks are a bit pricey.

I'll have to add that to my list. Hope the benefit is still there in late September.

I'm curious though how it works? Do you tell them at order of your card status and they you just order the drinks you want and fill out a comp form or is there some other process? TIA!

 

if you, or @tringlomane have a spare moment, are there strategy changes to spin poker?
Never tried it, looks like a nice way to dump my BR faster..

 

I ask the server about the benefit up-front just to make sure I'm not paying for expensive drinks out-of-pocket. When the check came I just gave my player's card. Receipt said "admin comp" No RCs were deducted.

 

There are no strategy changes. It's basically three-play video poker, but only a single deck is used instead of three decks like in regular three-play. The odds and EV of the game are unaffected by the spin feature.

The single deck means that if you're dealt four-to-a-royal you can't redraw a royal on each of the three hands (which is theoretically possible on regular three-play), but drawing the one card can hit multiple lines (but not all of them).

Playing two or three lines means the lines do not intersect so the game turns into regular 2 or 3-play, just with a single deck for the draws. The machines at CP will let you play a single line, then it's just regular old video poker.

 

Day 16, Thu 8/06, Work, FP Conversion, Outback Steakhouse

After eight hours of work and another ham and swiss wrap for lunch, it was time to head downstairs to finish the promo. Went back to the fastest machine and I was able to knock out 2500 TCs in under 1.5 hours, making $500 along the way.

That got me to 10,000 TCs on the dot. At 2:00 on a Thursday afternoon I was the only customer in the redemption ballroom. I asked about any secret promotions, but there weren't any. Caesars actually improved the process from the Apple Offer. This time they had a desk in the ballroom to handout the free play. The cage was overwhelmed during the Apple weekend, so this was smart move.

In no time at all I was back at the VP machine with a sweet $3250 of free play. 130 hands later it had turned into $3205 of cash money (just shuffled the digits around a little) for a 98.6% redemption...not bad at all.

So the "Mattress Offer" went way better than expected. Two royals, no big down days, and a good conversion of free play yielded a profit over $12,000!

The only "problem" is that I hit seven stars again so I don't really have any incentive to play at CZR properties until 2021. The Signature Experiences all look unappealing, not valid in COVID times, or laughable (congratulations on making double 7*...here's a $500 folio credit). I'll be back for the Bike offer because it looks profitable, but not sure what I'll do after that. I do need to use the retreat and air credit.

How do you celebrate a big win? With Outback Steakhouse of course! I wanted steak, I didn't want to put on pants, and I wanted to eat before 5. Outback fit the bill perfectly.

There was no wait for a table at 4:00. Service was friendly but slow. Other tables were getting very antsy, but once I was able to order things went smoothly for me. They're still bringing bread and butter. I hadn't been to Outback in a couple of years, so I just had to order a Bloomin' Onion even though I was solo. I ate about half of it and that was still almost 1,000 calories! It was delicious. Salad was salad. The main course was a medium-rare ribeye with aussie fries. Steak was cooked to the right temperature, well seasoned, and quite good. Total with two glasses of wine and tip came to $77 (real money! can you get this comped by Casino Royale?) It's not Old Homestead, but they make a decent steak at a decent price.


Status: Up $19,400 cash on trip. Two quarter royals. Three dollar royals.
Up next: Work, South Point, South Point Buffet, Quick Quads

 

I think they will comp food at Casino Royale, but the best VP they offer is 7/5 BP... I know they have a $20 loss rebate for $100 lost in a session but I don’t know what the earning rate for food comps is

 

@Tarpie You caught my attention with those Quick Quads. I love playing those at South Point and Sam's Town.

 

Holy crap, what a trip! Up all that cash while having a great time, sounds like a dream trip!

Plus, you're actually working too while in town. That's the best double dip profit one can imagine.

Keep it up! Cheers.

 

@Tarpie congratulations on the Mattress offer promo success. Even after the Bike offer, I expect there will be future promos by CET. Since there are no concerts, and night clubs. CET is banking on gamblers. You should use your flight benefits for reimbursements by free play.

FAB

 

Thanks for the info!!

 

Day 17, Fri 8/07, Work, South Point, South Point Buffet, Quick Quads

TGIF. Turns out seven stars benefits don't mean anything at Caesars Palace anymore. There are no 7* lines (always combined with diamond) and the front desk wouldn't give me late check out past 1:00 without getting a host involved. Housekeeping tried to enter before noon anyway.

After a full day of work and rushing to pack up my workstation before eviction, I called the bell desk. Of course, the bellmen aren't allowed to come in the room. I had to negotiate rolling the cart into the room myself so that I didn't have to lug a 60 lb tote a hefty distance. Once I loaded up the cart and got it to the hallway things went smoothly.

First stop, the bank. Had a ton of cash to deposit, and definitely got my first CTR It was a relief to not have to worry about carrying so much cash around any more. Good problem to have, but makes me nervous.

@AyDee has not shut up about South Point since getting back from his trip earlier this month Also, I listen to the Gambling with an Edge podcast that South Point sponsors. Finally, they have some variants of video poker I had never tried. So I booked a room there for Fri and Sat nights for just shy of $300 total hoping to get backend comps.

The casino was hopping at 3:00 on a Friday afternoon, but check-in was a ghost land. There was temperature check at check-in but none to get on the casino floor, similar to Caesars. I quickly got the room setup and headed downstairs.

vpfree2 showed a couple machines of the Quick Quads (QQ) variant. I had never played it before, but quads coming more often sounded great to me. In QQs if you have trip 2-Ts and the other two cards add up to the same value it counts as a 4OAK. Aces are ones, face cards immediately eliminate quick quads. So 333A2 and TTT37 count as quads in QQ. You pay 6 coins instead of 5 to enable QQ. Additionally, the 9/6 JoB QQ machines I found were also Wheel Poker machines. In wheel poker every 4OAK gets you a free spin of the wheel. You will win somewhere between 50-2000 extra coins on top of the quad payout. This feature also costs an extra coin, for 7 total per hand.

I sat down and played 25 cent 5-play 7-coins/hand for $8.75/deal. It took no time at all to be down almost $500 So I got up and explored the casino and dinner options. The buffet had a pretty long line at 4:15 so I checked out the steakhouse menu (which looked good) and Steak N' Shake, which was also appealing. But I circled back to the buffet right as the first wave of diners was finishing, so it was just a short line.

While waiting in line my CZR host called. I don't recall every getting a call while in Vegas from him. Maybe the big win set off alarms in the computer system? I mentioned that the 7* signature event and the "Bike Offer" sort of conflict and was told as usual to pound sand. But I can do both if I take two nights off between. Still haven't decided since the signature event would just be me stuffing my face with $400 resort credit and not wanting to play at all. And it would eat in to my time for "Bike Offer" TC earning.

Friday night is seafood night at the Garden Buffet. $28.95 includes two alcoholic drinks. It was just like a classic Vegas buffet except the seating area was much sparser and at the food stations staff were dishing out the food.

I started with oysters rockefeller, fried scallops, and prime rib. The oysters were amazing! So much golden, brown, and delicious cheese with the right amount of spinach and sizable oysters. Prime rib was solid and well seasoned.


Second course was some kind of duck, beef bourguignon, potatoes au gratin, and brussels sprouts w/ blue cheese. Duck was meh, but everything else was good, especially the sprouts.


Round three was more oysters rockefeller, a chinese style rib, and raw oysters. The oysters were very large, which I like. Sorry, I'm not a dessert person, but they did have a nice spread out.


I ran through my free wine allowance during the first two courses, so I handed cash to the server for another. He came back with a cup of wine and handed back the cash saying he had an extra drink ticket. Score! All the servers and bussers were super friendly and attentive. Some of the food station attendants were a little gruff, but having to dish out the food while keeping the trays full has to be stressful. They're doing a lot more work and I'm guessing not getting paid any more than they were making pre-COVID.

It was a good experience, and staff was all over people who got up from the table without wearing a mask (which was an honest mistake 99% of the time). I'll definitely go back.

While eating dinner I googled QQ strategy. Oy vey are there major strategy changes! That explains how I managed to lose so fast before dinner. The two adjustments I took to heart were: (1) if dealt trip 2-Ts and one of the other cards can be used to make a QQ, you hold the trips and that card (so 999Q6, you hold the 9996 so that a 3 or a 9 gives you 4OAK) and (2) if dealt a pair of 2-T and two other cards add up to it hold all four (so 9945Q, you hold 9945 so 9 gives you 4OAK and 4 or 5 two pair).

After dinner I decided to put my new found knowledge to work while having a few Sam Adams. Twenty minutes in I had recovered some of the earlier loss when this happened:


In a three minute span I was dealt quads twice! (And weirdly, both were natural not QQ...my gut tells me QQs are more common). That got me ahead for the day. I was having fun so I kept playing even though I didn't have a specific goal. 90 minutes later I got the wheel holy grail:


2,000 coins/$500! Those quads and wheel spins were addictive! I kept telling myself just one more quad and I'll go to bed. I finally dragged myself off the machine after running $10k coin-in through for the day. After digging a hole before dinner it was nice to finish up over $500 on the day. Thanks wheel!

Status: Up $19,900 cash on trip. Two quarter royals. Three dollar royals.
Up next: Coronado Cafe, Quick Quads, Steak N' Shake

 

And this is WHEEL POKER with Quick Quads. That also changes the strategy even from regular QQ because a quad is worth more thanks to the wheel spin.


https://wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/tables/wheel-poker-with-quick-quads/
This is 9/6 JoB strategy.

https://wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/strategy/a-13-b-74-c-1-d-0-d-1-d-2-d-3-d-4-d-6-d-9-d-78.69226-d-50-d-800/

Congrats on the 2000 credit wheel spin and all the royals!

And yeah you can use casino royale comps for Outback. We ate there once and were pleasantly surprised.

 

I wonder what the other games/paytables offered on the QQ WP are... the JoB is definitely good but there could be some extra-juicy opportunities if the machines have 9/6 DDB with the boosted base payouts on some quads or 8/5 TB+

 

Hope I didn't steer you wrong!
Many people say it's worth checking with a host on the way out to see what you can get. You'll probably catch a decent backend.. Also everyone says to ask for Roxi / Roxanne and I think she's working.
How's the room? Still haven't stayed there yet.
If it's open, the hot dog cart is a great cheap quick snack, and I think you'll enjoy the rest of the food options too.

and let's see how many $50 Wal-mart gift cards you can rack up (limit 10)
https://southpointcasino.com/casino/slots/half-price-walmart-gift-cards-in-august

 

Day 18, Sat 8/08, Coronado Cafe, Quick Quads, Steak N' Shake

Woke up early enough to take advantage of Coronado Cafe's 12am-6am graveyard specials. Steak and eggs for $5.45! With coffee it came to just $8.90 comps. Hash brown were inedible, but everything else was good and cooked as requested.


After breakfast I returned to my favorite QQ machine for a quick 30 minute session and a Jameson and coffee. Made a quick $700 and a free drink. I can't lose at this game!

Spent the rest of the morning in my east facing room. Not much of a view, but I probably needed a break from the over-stimulation of my CP view The room was not carpeted so they throw in free slippers. The walls were thin, as I discovered when a family with screaming toddlers moved in next door. Luckily I'm on a toddler sleep schedule so I had no problems sleeping.



After noon I went back downstairs to print more money at my favorite machine The gambling gods proceeded to remind me that even though this is full pay video poker the house still has an edge. On my second rebuy the machine finally warmed up, but I was still a little down for the day when I stopped after running $10k coin-in.

As I was playing I noticed an older lady sit down at the slot machine closest to me, about 15ft away. It took me an embarrassingly long time to notice that she was sitting facing me and just staring (I usually have better situational awareness). As soon as she noticed that I noticed, she moved to a seat right behind me but visible in the chrome on the machine. Both the QQ machines were in use, so she was going to stare daggers and pounce as soon as someone got up. The guy on the other QQ machine got up and she manically ran to it. But her husband needed a machine, so I kept getting the side-eye. I regret that I just didn't have the energy to keep playing...I strongly considered playing for hours more but I needed a break. Her purse slammed down on my chair the second my butt became airborne. What a loon!

I went up to the room for a bit, and when I came down Mrs. Manic was gone. All that anxiety to not even play for an hour!?

After the disappointment of the Market Street Cafe patty melt I wanted to get a good one. Steak N' Shake did not let me down. I sat at the counter (two seats on ends open with two in the middle blocked). It had been 10 hours since my last food, so I went a little wild. A cup of chili, a patty melt, and a PB cup milkshake. Chili was surprisingly good and the patty melt was amazing. It almost had too much cheese, if that's even possible. The milkshake was good but the base needed some PB flavor. Service was friendly and efficient. My only gripe is that the waitstaff started rolling silverware and wiping down menus right in front of me. Definitely less than 6 ft away, and I was maskless because I was eating. And they kept cycling people through every 45 seconds or so, so I was exposed to four or five different people. Even pre-COVID this would not have been ideal. Next time I will grab a table.


After dinner I went back to my muse, the QQ machine. I hit dealt quads along the way to get quite a bit up, the finished the session up exactly 75 cents. You may have noticed the glare in all my QQ pics. It was brutal on my eyes while playing. There is an overhead light right above the screen and the slant-top directs the glare no matter where the chair is. I think I would have played more if my eyes weren't bugging out. Never understood why casinos make machine so uncomfortable to play.


Status: Up $19,900 cash on trip. Two quarter royals. Three dollar royals.
Up next: Checking out of South Point, Fry's Electronics, Market Street Cafe

 

The room was fine. Clean, reasonably large, and the wifi worked. The hot dog cart was open, but I chowed down on other options.

I saw the walmart promotion...but i can't stand going to walmart. I think I've been twice in the last 15 years. But it is a good promo that makes 9/6 JoB profitable. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

Oh how I love to see others enjoying SouthPoint. Been there twice this year, don't know if the wife will let me squeeze in a third. And yes, Steak and Shake is a really solid choice for some excellent soak-up-the-booze food

 

Wow, we're a week behind in time..
Love the slow roll.
Sometimes you gotta be in the moment
and I know the recreation is hard...
take your time..
Can't wait to see what happens next...

I had a hoot wasting time on that QQ wheelspin at nickles once, not wanting to leave, but not wanting to loose.

 

great detail and kudos for having the will power to work in your room for 8 hours a day when you know what is downstairs

keep hitting those royals

 

Day 19, Sun 8/09, South Point Wrap Up, Back to the Cal, Fry's, Market Street Cafe Prime Rib

Got up in time for the graveyard special at Coronado Cafe again. Went with the steak and eggs again. Eggs scrambled, with cheese is a 50 cent up-charge...that's almost 10% of the cost of steak and eggs for a slice of cheese! After breakfast I played a short, losing session of QQs. I played eight hours of video poker over three days/two nights at South Point, all on the same machine. Never even tried the identical machine next to it.

After that, I leisurely packed and loaded the truck. Then I popped my head into the hosts' office to see if I could get anything knocked off the bill. I had run almost $29k coin-in on 9/6 JoB QQ Wheel Video Poker. They comped Friday night which also got rid of the the $14 resort fee. Saturday night was changed to "CRATE" (casino rate) of $69, which was $50 cheaper than I had booked. There was no mention of comping the buffet I charged to the room. I think they expect you to use your comp points for that. So instead of $300 ($119 per night plus tax/fees) I ended up paying $92. Not bad. Another nice thing is the host said: "All host comps are discretionary. We never touch your points." So I still have ~$50 worth of points, or $100 Walmart gift card dollars

I liked the vibe of the South Point. If you want to feel like you're in pre-COVID vegas this is a good place to go. The table games were hopping, and they seemed very lax on mask enforcement if you were drinking or smoking at the tables. There was always a bit of a crowd, and the restaurants often had lines. The have every other slot/vp machine turned off, not just chair-less. They definitely use a perfume that smelled very familiar. It was fruity, but I couldn't place where else I had smelled it.

Total results excluding copious cash tips, $250 VP profit (lucky!), minus $123 out-of-pocket for buffet and room, paying $38 of restaurant tabs with points, and having $49 worth of points remaining for a total profit of $214. Thanks dealt quads!

After checking out of SP I headed straight back to the Cal for seven nights. It was still early so I got to work playing VP on the 11x Sunday instead of checking in. Lost $400 in 1.5 hours but I earned $55 comp points, so profit? And of course while I was playing an old man moved a chair to the machine next to me so he could play keno. He sorta asked if it was alright as he pushed a chair over. I think the Cal likes to torment people like me by putting keno and good video poker on the same machine.

The Cal let me check-in before 2:00. I asked for and received the exact same room as two weeks earlier. It's quiet, has reliable wifi, and doesn't share plumbing with another room. That's worth the 130 steps from the elevators. I had intentionally left the shutters closed the last stay so housekeeping would see they needed cleaning. Maybe this time I'll leave a note


I setup my workstation in record time (practice makes perfect). Unfortunately the keyboard finally bit the dust. And I can't do anything without it...the VPN machine requires a password to decrypt the harddrive before windows even loads. No on-screen keyboard is available. So off to Fry's I went. I was excited to go...back in the day Fry's had everything: ham radios, oscilloscopes, multimeters, photography equipment, computer parts, transistors, microcontrollers, etc. While they still have some of that stuff, entire sections of the store are barren. They're probably using 40% of the store. And they did not have one, single, acceptable, keyboard (but I am picky). And I unsuccessfully searched that entire store for a mini-usb cable with nary an employee in sight. So sad. I used to dream of getting a Fry's back home, but now I think there won't be any Fry's soon. So I ended up at the Best Buy on Maryland Parkway and got everything I needed in no time at all.

Just a side note, ain't technology great? I have this magical device in my pocket that tells me where I can buy things, whether they're in stock, and how to get there in an unfamiliar city. Thinking back to my first trip to Vegas in 2006, this would have involved renting time on the computer in the Main Street Station lobby, looking up directions on Mapquest and printing them out, and hoping I don't miss a turn and get lost without a local map of Vegas. Go back 15 years before that, and you'd be using a phone book and need a road map.

Back at the Cal I decided to try the Market Street Cafe Prime Rib special for the third time. In the past I have regretted getting it as the meat has always come out well-done and dry as sawdust. This time I got there earlyish at 5:30 hoping they would have some rare cuts. I'm glad I tried it again! Started with decent cream of mushroom soup and then got a nice rare slice of prime rib with mashed potatoes and green beans. Quite tasty. I skipped the cherries jubilee.


After dinner I played a half hour of 11x points $1 9/6 JoB when this happened:


Another $1 royal! It took over 45,000 hands to hit the first $1 royal of the trip. In the 22,800 hands since then I've hit three more. It's nice to go from under-royaled to over-royaled! And now I have three Cal t-shirts!

Tarpie went to bed happy and not believing the luck he was having.

Status: Up $23,300 cash on trip. Two quarter royals. Four dollar royals.
Up next: Work, Market Street Cafe Short Ribs